Bolyu language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bolyu
Pronunciationpɔ33 lju13
Native to
Longlin County, Guangxi
EthnicityBolyu 1,800 (2007)[1]
Native speakers
500 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ply
Glottologboly1239
ELPBolyu

The Bolyu language (

autonym: pɔ33 lju13; Chinese: 巴琉语, 布流语; also known as Paliu, Palyu, or Lai 俫语, 徕语) is an Austroasiatic language of the Pakanic branch.[2]

Classification

Bolyu is related to the

Mang is excluded as yet another separate branch of Austroasiatic.[4]

Distribution

Bolyu speakers are found in the following locations in

Li (1999) documents the Bolyu variety of Muzitun 亩子屯, Xinhe Village 新合村, Changfa Township 长发乡,

Longlin County, Guangxi
.

In the following villages, only elderly speakers of Bolyu remain.

  • Zhelang township 者浪乡: Zhezhai 者寨, Langrong 郎荣, Linghao 岭好
  • Kechang township 克场乡: Haichang 海长
  • Shechang township 蛇场乡: Daguo 达果

1,400 Bolyu reside in Guangxi, and over 1,000 in Yunnan.[8]

Phonology

Bolyu is a monosyllabic tonal language like the surrounding

Tai–Kadai, Hmong-Mien and even Vietic languages
. Unlike Bugan, Bolyu does not have a tense–lax voice quality distinction.

Initial consonants

Labial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal
Velar Uvular Glottal
plain pal. vel. plain pal. sib. plain pal. lab. plain pal.
Nasal
m
n
ŋ
Plosive/

Affricate

voiceless p
t
t͡s k q ʔ
aspirated pʰʲ tʰʲ t͡sʰ tɕʰ
prenasalized ᵐb ᵐbʲ ⁿd
Fricative v
ɬ
ɬʲ s ɕ ɣ ɣʲ h
Approximant
l
j w
Bolyu allows for a large variety of consonant clusters, and has eight possible consonantal finals:
[9] -p, -t, -k, -m, -n, -ŋ, -w, -j.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

There are seven vowels in Bolyu:[10] /a, e, ə, i, o, ɔ, u/.

Tones

Bolyu has a total of six tones.[11]

Bolyu tones
Tone number
Tone letter
Pitch value
1 ˥ 55
2 ˧ 33
3 ˩ 11
4 ˥˧ 53
5 ˧˩ 31
6 ˩˧ 13

References

  1. ^ a b Bolyu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Sidwell (1995)
  3. ^ Van Driem, George (2007). "Austroasiatic Phylogeny and the Austroasiatic Homeland in Light of Recent Population Genetic Studies" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 37: 1–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  4. ^ Sidwell, Paul. 2015. "Austroasiatic classification." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  5. ^ Edmondson (1995)
  6. ^ 俫语使用人口稳定增长原因探究
  7. ^ Li (1999)
  8. ^ a b c Guangxi Minority Languages Orthography Committee (2008). Guǎngxī mínzú yǔyán fāng yīn cíhuì 广西民族语言方音词汇 [Vocabularies of Guangxi Ethnic Languages] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
  9. ^ Sidwell (1995)
  10. ^ Edmondson (1995)
  11. ^ Edmondson (1995)

External links